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Setting the Sparrow Free
Sometime after the Obassa Bandits mission, Suzume and Fudo begin to go out on a few dates. During their first, the two agree that the next two dates they go on will be them meeting each other's family, though Suzume shows great worry about it. Still, she makes her promise. When Fudo takes her to the Shinijaku-shu headquarters a few days later, the date starts off a little shaky as he desperately tries to keep his family under control. However, once Suzume agrees to play a few hands at poker, things begin to ease up as she shows acceptance of the gang's ways, or just doesn't know any better. It is through the act of gambling and her winning almost all he rhands that she gains the approval of Morimoto's approval while also strengthening the rivalry between herself and Chika, who also has a crush on Fudo. When the day gets late, Fudo takes her back home. However, he notices as she goes into her house that two of the ten buns on her head have been cut. Later, Fudo learns that the buns on Suzume's head are a symbol of honor. When one loses all ten of their buns, they are expelled from their clan. Upon realizing Suzume has been considered dishonorable to her clan because of her association with her, Fudo gets upset. The next morning, Team Togeshiro and Team Murasaki are called in for a mission with another jounin ninja named Jitou. Jitou is a member of the Higa Clan and is also Suzume's older brother who does not approve of his sister. During the mission, which entailed capturing or defeating a kekkei genkai hunter named Duku Nuku, he proposes the idea of using Suzume as live bait which Murasaki and Fudo both team up against him over. Ultimately, the teams manage to defeat Duku Nuku without needing bait but Suzume gets severely injured while protecting Fudo. This angers Jitou, who then grabbed his injured sister by one of her buns and cut it off, revealling himself to be in line for the next head of the Higa Clan and having the right to strip her of her honor. He bans Suzume from associating with Fudo any longer before leaving the mission ahead of the teams. When Suzume returned home from her mission later that night, both her and her cousin Niga were called before the Higa Clan elders. Jitou is there and reveals that the two have been decided to be wed in an arranged marriage in one year's time. Days later, a heartbroken Suzume reveals this to her team, showing them her betrothal necklace that she was unable to remove. A day later, while Suzume was in her new home with Niga, her cousin shows her sympathy and reveals his past to her about a woman he once loved. The woman was thrown out of Sunagakure because of him and killed by bandits on her travels to Konohagakure. Suzume feels sorry for him and shows him compassion as well as understanding, fearing her situation was too similar to his. Later that night, however, Fudo breaks into the home. He cuts off Suzume's buns and, with Niga's aid and willingness to take the blame over Suzume's disappearance, helps her escape from her clan.